Fired Hollywood police officers plead not guilty to criminal charges

July 22, 2010|By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE — Two ex-Hollywood police officers appeared briefly in court Thursday to plead not guilty to charges stemming from a videotape that prosecutors say shows them conspiring to doctor a crash report to help one of the officers.

"We'll do a little Walt Disney to protect the cop," Officer Dewey Pressley can be heard saying as he allegedly discusses how to concoct a story to absolve Officer Joel Francisco of blame for rear-ending another car in February 2009.

Pressley, 43, and Francisco, 37, have each been charged with four counts of official misconduct, four counts of falsifying records, one count of conspiracy to commit official misconduct and one count of conspiracy to falsify records.

All totaled, the charges carry a maximum punishment of 30 years behind bars.

Each man is free on $100,000 bail pending trial.

Defense attorneys declined to comment on their clients' cases as they left Circuit Judge Michael Gates' courtroom. They are next scheduled to appear in court Sept. 30.

Francisco was on duty and talking to a friend on his cell phone when he rear-ended Alexandra Torrens-Vilas with his patrol car on Sheridan Street. A dashboard camera in the car captured the officers and others apparently discussing how they would alter the crash report.

Torrens-Vilas, 24, was arrested on a DUI charge.

At the crash site, seemingly unaware the camera was recording their conversation, Pressley can be heard saying: "I don't want to make things up ever, because it's wrong, but if I need to bend it a little to protect a cop, I'm gonna."

Pressley, Francisco and three other Hollywood Police Department employees were fired in January as a result of the incident. The other three have not been criminally charged.

State prosecutors dropped DUI charges against Torrens-Vilas in July 2009.